![2008 MLB Opening Day game Red Sox and Athletics](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/2008_MLB_Opening_Day_game_Red_Sox_and_Athletics.jpg)
The Major League Baseball Opening Series Japan 2008, or MLB Japan Opening Series 2008, was played on March 25 and 26, 2008, in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
,
Japan. The
2007 World Series
The 2007 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2007 season. The 103rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Colorado Rockies and the American L ...
champion
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
and the
Oakland Athletics split a two-game series played at
Tokyo Dome
is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...
. These were the first games of the
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB) regular season.
Game 1, March 25
Boston won a closely fought and entertaining opening game in Japan, courtesy of a
Manny Ramírez
Manuel Arístides Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic), Dominican-American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for parts of 19 seasons. He played with ...
2
RBI double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
in the top of the 10th inning.
Daisuke Matsuzaka
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, who pitched professionally for 23 seasons, 16 of them in NPB, 7 in MLB. He is currently a baseball color commentator, critic, reporter, and YouTuber. Daisuke is nicknamed in Japan and "Dice ...
started very shakily, not able to control his
curveball as he gave up two
runs, including a
Mark Ellis home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
in the first
inning and issuing five
walks through his five innings. However, he settled down to retire the last seven
batters he faced.
Joe Blanton
Joseph Matthew Blanton (born December 11, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Kansas City Royals, Pi ...
started for Oakland and pitched solidly through the first five innings. However, he lost control of his pitches in the sixth inning, and gave up three runs. Ramirez drove in two with a double and
Brandon Moss
Brandon Douglas Moss (born September 16, 1983) is an American former professional baseball outfielder / first baseman / designated hitter (DH). He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelp ...
(a very late replacement for
J. D. Drew
David Jonathan "J. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. He began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Bo ...
) drove in the third run with an RBI single. In the bottom half of sixth,
Kyle Snyder failed to hold on to the lead, giving up a two-run homer to
Jack Hannahan
John Joseph "The Bangladesh Hammer" Hannahan IV (born March 4, 1980) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Ind ...
.
Both
bullpens were then solid, giving up no runs until the ninth inning.
Huston Street
Huston Lowell Street ( ; born August 2, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels.
After ...
failed to close out the game, giving up a solo home run to Moss. With
Hideki Okajima
is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. Okajima pitched for the Yomiuri Giants, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, and the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athle ...
's scoreless 9th inning, the game was sent into
extra innings
Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie.
Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...
. Street stayed in the game despite blowing the
save in the 9th inning. With a man on second and two out, Oakland chose to
intentionally walk David Ortiz, who seemed to have struggled in his earlier
at bats. Ramirez then knocked in his third and fourth RBIs with his second double of the game.
Jonathan Papelbon
Jonathan Robert Papelbon (; born November 23, 1980) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Boston Red Sox, with whom he was an All-Star in four cons ...
came on to close out the game for Boston. With a man on first and one out,
Emil Brown
Emil Quincy Brown (born December 29, 1974) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1997 to 2009 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, a ...
hit a double into right field, scoring
Daric Barton
Daric William Barton (born August 16, 1985) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics.
Minor league career
Barton was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the ...
. However, Brown chose to attempt to advance to third base, but was caught in a
rundown
In baseball, a rundown, informally known as a pickle or the hotbox, is a situation that occurs when the baserunner is stranded between two bases, also known as no-man's land, and is in jeopardy of being tagged out. When the baserunner attempts ...
, and was tagged out. This resulted in a 2 out, nobody on situation, instead of a 1 out, 1 on situation. Papelbon gave up two further singles, but retired
Kurt Suzuki
Kurtis Kiyoshi Suzuki (born October 4, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Angels. ...
to end the game.
In a side note for fans in the United States, many viewers of the
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
service were unable to watch the game on either
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
, which had the national game rights, or
NESN
New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which owns a controlling 80% interest, and is the owner of Boston Red So ...
, which had broadcast rights for the Red Sox in that region. The
transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...
s from which the channels are
uplink
In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or sha ...
ed to viewers of the
standard-definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
feed failed some hours before the first pitch at 6 a.m.
Eastern time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
. The screen showed a "searching for satellite signal" error message, then DirecTV put up a static screen apologizing for technical difficulties. Those watching DirecTV on a
high-definition feed were not affected. The error was not fixed until approximately noon ET; both networks replayed the game coverage after that, as had been scheduled due to the enormous time difference between the U.S. and Japan.
Game 2, March 26
Oakland comfortably won the second game to level the series at 1-1.
Jon Lester
Jonathan Tyler Lester (born January 7, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals. L ...
gave up four runs in four innings, including a three-run home run to
Emil Brown
Emil Quincy Brown (born December 29, 1974) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1997 to 2009 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, a ...
in the third inning.
Rich Harden
James Richard Harden (born November 30, 1981) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.
Early years
Harden attended Claremont Secondary ...
pitched six dominant innings for Oakland, striking out nine and giving up just one run thanks to a
Manny Ramírez
Manuel Arístides Ramírez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972) is a Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic), Dominican-American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for parts of 19 seasons. He played with ...
solo home run in the sixth inning.
Jeff Fiorentino
Jeffrey Philip Fiorentino (born April 14, 1983) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics between 2005 and 2009. His nickname is '' Screech'' due to his resemblance to the D ...
added another run with a single in his first at bat of the season, driving in
Kurt Suzuki
Kurtis Kiyoshi Suzuki (born October 4, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Angels. ...
.
Exhibition Games
Game 1, March 22
Game 2, March 22
Game 3, March 23
Game 4, March 23
See also
*
*
MLB Japan All-Star Series
The MLB Japan All-Star Series is an irregular end-of-the-season tour of Japan made by an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1986, contested in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or ...
*
MLB China Series
The Major League Baseball China Series, or MLB China Series, were two spring training games between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time Major League Baseball teams play ...
*
MLB Taiwan All-Star Series
The MLB Taiwan All-Star Series was an end-of-the-season tour of Taiwan made by an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) after 2011 MLB season, contested in a best-of format against the Chinese Taipei national baseball team.
The series ...
*
2019 MLB London Series
The 2019 MLB London Series was a two-game Major League Baseball series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. Sponsored by Mitel, it is branded as Mitel & MLB Present London Seri ...
*
2008 Major League Baseball season
The 2008 Major League Baseball season began on March 25, 2008, in Tokyo, Japan with the 2007 World Series champion Boston Red Sox defeating the Oakland Athletics at the Tokyo Dome 6–5 (in 10 innings) in the first game of a two-game series, and ...
**
2008 Boston Red Sox season
The 2008 Boston Red Sox season was the 108th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished in second place in the American League East with a record of 95 wins and 67 losses, two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The ...
**
2008 Oakland Athletics season
The Oakland Athletics' 2008 season marked their 40th year in Oakland, California. It was also the 108th season in franchise history. The team finished third in the American League West with a record of 75-86.
The Athletics were not expected to ...
External links
Japan Opening Series
{{Oakland Athletics
2008 Major League Baseball season
Boston Red Sox
Oakland Athletics
2008 in Japanese sport
International baseball competitions hosted by Japan
Major League Baseball international baseball competitions
March 2008 sports events in Asia
2008 in Tokyo
Sports competitions in Tokyo